The 2019 Crosman All-American Field Target Championship, A Shooter’s Perspective…
It was about 2:30PM when Dennis (Baker) and I arrived at the extravagant and beautiful Rochester Brooks Gun Club in Rush, NY on Friday June 21 2019. I can’t say enough what a well-run, well-maintained, and overall wonderful place it was. Unfortunately, arriving at this time meant that I missed the “Quigley Bucket Challenge.” I was very much looking forward to that. I did actually get a chance to fire the competition gun at the target, but without my glasses on. I might as well have closed my eyes and shot, as I could not make out the target at all. Needless to say, I missed.
Even so, I was thrilled to be at the Crosman All-American Field Target Championship. This was my first year shooting here. I don’t shoot pistol field target, but the pistol match was held on Friday. It turns out the winner was Eric Brewer who shot a 53/60. My game is Hunter PCP, so I didn’t shoot until Saturday. With so many shooters, we were split between the woods course and the field course. Hunter PCP started on the woods course Saturday morning, and the Open and WFTF shooters shot the field course. Of course, we had meetings in the morning to discuss the day’s goings-on.
It was unexpectedly beautiful weather when we woke up on Saturday. A nice and mild 70-ish, and I don’t think it crept above 80 degrees all day. It was partly cloudy and the winds weren’t very strong. Maybe 10mph at worst. In the woods, it was nearly a non-issue. I heard the field course was a bit tougher due to wind on Saturday, though. I started the match very well, with my first 4 or maybe 5 lanes without a miss. I came to find that almost all lanes had a 50+ yard target, and then usually a very easy target. I think I got cocky from starting so strong, and started pulling shots after that. Totally my fault. My rig (the Daystate Wolverine R, Aztec Emerald FFP, JSB Old Monsters) was dead on. I am completely responsible for every miss. I ended up finishing with a 46/60. Boo, me. Boo.
On Sunday morning, we were again greeted with lovely weather. The winds were forecast at 5 – 10mph. OH GOODY! Wind is a major factor when shooting in a field, and today was the field course for Hunter PCP. I decided to get some practice in before the match, and I’m very glad that I did so. While the wind wasn’t blowing extremely hard, it was blowing almost constantly. I came to find that at 50 yards, my pellet was deviating an average of 1 mil to the left. Luckily, my Aztec Emerald FFP scope has little dots placed strategically in that exact position. For the rest of the day, every shot I took at 50+ yards had at least 1 mil of wind-hold. I didn’t make all of the shots at that distance, but it was a good average to use.
I ended up doing a little better on the field course than in the woods, and finished with a 48/60. This brought my cumulative total to 96/120 for the weekend, landing me in 12th place out of 37 overall. While I would have liked to do better, I’m not unhappy with that placement. I just got a new scope on my rig, and I finished my dope chart on Saturday before the match started. All things considered, I’m almost happy! In case you were wondering, Billy Rabbitt posted the highest score in Hunter PCP again on Sunday with another 58/60. He ended up easily winning the Hunter PCP class, and even took overall winner with combined scores. Well done, Bill!
For a complete listing of the winners of the Crosman All-American Field Target Championship, I will redirect you to the coverage of Hard Air Magazine. This blog is really just my take on the weekend more than anything else. Again I have to say that the Rochester Brooks Gun Club is an amazing place, and Crosman did a great job of running an awesome event! I very much look forward to next year, and thank absolutely everyone involved for making it such a memorable event.
Donnie Reed is our Sales Manager and general airgun guru here at Baker Airguns. He was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, and qualified as both a Rifle Expert and Pistol Expert. Donnie is now a competitive airgun shooter, focusing primarily on field target and benchrest competitions. He has won both PCP and piston class field target matches, as well as local benchrest competitions. Donnie also runs the Youtube channel and Facebook group ALL THINGS AIRGUN. His first college degree is in Mathematics and Sciences, but he is still pursuing another in Physics and Astronomy.
